Georgia Republican Earl L. “Buddy” Carter on Dec. 3 ushered through the House Energy and Commerce Committee his bill that would overhaul the permitting process for broadband infrastructure. The measure, approved 26-24 in a party-line vote, would set deadlines for state and local governments to approve or deny applications for certain projects and establish rules for permitting fees. It would also exempt some connectivity projects, including those in public rights of way or where easements have already been granted for communications facilities, from certain requirements under the National Environmental Policy Act and the National Historic Preservation Act. The effort comes as the National Telecommunications and Information Administration has begun approving state proposals for grants to expand access to high-speed internet through the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment program.
Getting to Congress: Carter began his career as a pharmacist, starting his own pharmacy business in Pooler, Ga., in 1988. He entered local government with a spot on the city’s planning and zoning commission before moving onto the city council. Carter became mayor of Pooler in 1996. He served eight years and then ran for the Georgia House in 2004. After four years in that chamber, Carter was elected to the state Senate in 2009. The 2014 retirement of former U.S. House Rep. Jack Kingston, who left to run for the Senate, gave Carter a shot at Congress. He was the top vote-getter in the GOP primary, but couldn’t reach the required 50 percent to avoid a runoff election against surgeon Bob Johnson. Carter defeated Johnson 53 percent to 46 percent and went on to handily win against Democrat Brian Reese that November.
His District: The 1st District covers the state’s entire coastline, from South Carolina down to the Florida-Georgia line. Savannah, the district’s largest city, has an active arts scene, thanks in part to the prestigious Savannah College of Art and Design, as well as a business sector that includes industry titan Gulfstream Aerospace. Wealth in the district varies: The median household income in Carter’s hometown of Pooler was over $90,000 in 2023, while in rural Brantley County, that number drops to $40,000. Savannah leans Democratic, but the district as a whole is safely Republican, with voters choosing to send President Donald Trump back to office by a 13-point margin in 2024. Carter won his latest reelection with 68 percent of the vote.
What’s New: Carter announced in May that he will run in the Republican Senate primary as his party looks to unseat Georgia Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff in the 2026 midterms. Trump narrowly carried the state last fall, and Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales rates the race a Toss-Up. Carter stepped down from his role as chairman of the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health in July.
Point of Interest: For years Carter has been among a number of members who choose to sleep in their offices and shower in the members’ gym, rather than rent a house or an apartment in the area. In a 2024 Washington Post op-ed, Carter wrote that the practice fosters bipartisanship: “There’s a bond among those of us who wake up on a cot or couch, brush our teeth over the same sinks, venture to one of the cafeterias for a hot cup of coffee, and, at the end of the day, fall asleep to the faint scratches of the building’s worst tenants, the mice.”
Allison Mollenkamp and Victor Feldman contributed to this report.
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